A neat little piece of gaming history has been archived in full thanks to preservationist efforts. The original advertisement for the Nintendo Entertainment System has been catalogued after a five year search.
Archivist Frank Cifaldi managed to get his hands on an issue of Consumer Electronics containing the advertisement after an extended search period. The publication was located on eBay and purchased for $6.99 USD ($10).
It took five years but I finally found it: the very first advertisement for what became the Nintendo Entertainment System, from late 1984! pic.twitter.com/6r4sv7vSst
— Frank Cifaldi (@frankcifaldi) December 17, 2016
They’ve got it under a cloth like it’s a surprise but there was a picture of it like five pages ago. pic.twitter.com/HrQ93VRn1e
— Frank Cifaldi (@frankcifaldi) December 17, 2016
“It’s very hard to get these,” Cifaldi said. “This is literally the second issue I’ve seen in five years of looking. This was extremely lucky.”
The erosion and loss of older games and the ephemera surrounding them is a major issue facing the industry today. In addition to lost games and prototypes, lost magazine advertisements, interviews, and behind the scene information threatens to give us an incomplete picture of game history. Thankfully, we now have another little morsel preserved.
Comments
One response to “It Took Five Years For One Man To Find The First NES Advertisement”
I think that’s a pizza.
I have some original era Sega Master System / Mega Drive magazines if anyone wants them for archival purposes.
Yeah sure mate! I’d love them.
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